Hilter's Daughter by Jackie French

French, J. (1999). Hitler’s daughter .New York: HarperCollins Children’s Books.

                This story begins with four children on a rainy day at their school bus stop playing what they call the Story Game. Anna choses the topic for the story this time and despite Mark’s opposition, she begins to tell the story of Hitler’s daughter. Heidi, an imaginary young girl that Anna has created, was never recognized as Hitler’s daughter because of a birth mark on her face and her limp caused by one of her legs being shorter than the other. As the book points out, this would simply have worked against Adolf Hitler’s goal of creating a perfect Aryan race. Although, Mark was against the idea of Anna creating a story that made up stuff about a real person, he quickly became consumed with the story and needed to hear more each day.

                This story is most suitable for upper elementary students due to the World War II content and also the advanced plot structure used that would likely confuse young readers. Hitler’s Daughter is structured with the use of a parallel plot in which two plots are unfolding simultaneously to the reader. There is the story being told of Mark, Anna, Little Tracey, and Ben as evidenced in this quote, “Little Tracey scrambled onto the bus first, like she always did, and bounced into the front seat behind Mrs. Latter. Mark ambled behind Anna, with Ben following on his heels.” There is also the story Anna is telling about Heidi, unfolding at the same time, “Several times Heidi noticed Frau Leib slip a little flour or twist of sugar into the pocket of her coat that was hung by the back door when she came to work.”

                Both of the stories that unfold in Hitler’s Daughter are told from a third person limited omniscient point of view. The narrator is able to provide an insight into the feelings and thoughts of only one character, Mark. With statements such as these, “Mark had thought they looked like lions waiting to swallow you and then burp you out at your bus stop,” the reader is able to see into Mark’s mind. Anna as a narrator for her fictional story provides an insight into Heidi’s feelings and thoughts. We gain access into Heidi’s mind and realize just how lonely she is when Anna says things like, “She hoped she might catch a glimpse of the children Frau Leib spoke of.”

                This book could be utilized in a 5^th grade classroom as an introduction or included in a collection of genres available for students on the topics of the Holocaust, World War II, and/or Adolf Hitler. Students are not typically motivated to read text books and therefore children’s literature, even fiction texts such as Hitler’s Daughter, can get them interested in a topic.

Common Core State Standards Connections:

·         CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5.1 Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.

Kentucky Social Studies Core Content Connections:

·         SS-05-2.3.2 Students will give examples of conflicts between individuals or groups and describe appropriate conflict resolution strategies (e.g., compromise, cooperation, communication).

Big Questions to Ask Students:

·         Put yourself in Heidi’s shoes, would you have told anyone that you were Hitler’s daughter? Why or why not?

·         Try to answer some of the questions Mark struggles with:

o   If a child has is raised by evil parents, will they turn out evil as well?

o   Do you think that evil people such as Hitler really believe that the things they do are right or justified?